sNP 'in disarray' as party grapples with response to Salmond's rival party Dan Sanderson 2 hrs ago please log in to view this image Two Auckland polytechs see biggest jump in domestic enrolments in years please log in to view this image Johnson urges caution as England takes first big step out of lockdown A bitter civil war engulfing the SNP intensified on Sunday after a second MP defected to join Alex Salmond’s rival Alba Party. please log in to view this image © Russell Cheyne/PA First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the Scottish National Party, rehearses her SNP campaign speech, due to be broadcast on Monday - Russell Cheyne/PA Neale Hanvey, the MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, joined former justice secretary Kenny MacAskill in signing up to the former First Minister’s new outfit, set up to deliver a “super-majority” of pro-independence MSPs at the Holyrood elections in May. Mr Salmond’s controversial return to front-line politics saw SNP politicians openly clash with each other over how to respond to their former leader, with some denouncing those joining the Alba Party while others called for a more conciliatory approach. please log in to view this image © Provided by The Telegraph Ian Blackford claimed Kenny MacAskill's departure from the SNP was a relief - David Cheskin/PA Meanwhile, Mr Salmond suggested that despite their bitter rift, Nicola Sturgeon would be prepared to work with him to deliver Scottish independence, in a future campaign for separation. The First Minister has openly questioned her former mentor’s suitability for holding public office, due to his past conduct towards women. She said: “Serious questions have been raised about the appropriateness of his behaviour towards women while he held the highest office in the land. I think that raises real questions about the appropriateness of any return to public office.” Ms Sturgeon has claimed that she is “not overly concerned” about defections to the Alba Party. However, when it was announced that Mr MacAskill, the East Lothian MP, had quit the SNP after more than 40 years of membership, Ian Blackford, the party’s Westminster leader, claimed “his departure is somewhat of a relief” as the former cabinet minister had become an “increasing embarrassment”. Carol Monaghan, the SNP MP for Glasgow North West, said it was “disappointing to read character assassinations of several former colleagues”. She added: “We might not agree with their actions, but the level of vitriol is disturbing.” But Stewart McDonald, the Glasgow South MP and the SNP’s foreign affairs spokesman, hit back at Mr Salmond’s claims that Alba could help his former party by delivering more pro-independence MSPs. He said: “It’s not a rope they’re throwing the Yes movement, it’s a noose.” On Sunday night, it was confirmed that Caroline McAllister, deputy leader of West Dunbartonshire Council and the SNP national women’s convenor, had also signed up to Mr Salmond’s new breakaway party. Further defections are likely to be announced within the coming days, with Mr Salmond saying at least 32 Alba Party candidates will be announced by Wednesday. Alistair Carmichael, the LibDem MP and former Scottish Secretary, said Mr Hanvey’s defection was “the latest episode in the nationalists' bitter, twisted and divided civil war.” Neil Bibby, Scottish Labour’s campaign co-chair, said it showed the SNP was now in “utter disarray” and called for both Mr Hanvey and Mr MacAskill to stand down from Westminster so that by-elections could be held. However, despite Mr Salmond’s claim that Ms Sturgeon’s husband, Peter Murrell, was among the senior SNP figures who he says conspired to put him in jail, he said he and his former protege could once again unite behind their “common aim” of securing the break up of Britain. He told Times Radio that he would not “forgive” Ms Sturgeon over their feud. But he added: “With the future of our country at stake, you have to put the past behind you, and campaign for the future. “I'm saying that is what I would do, and incidentally I believe that's what Nicola Sturgeon would do as well.” Mr Salmond was cleared of all 13 sex assault charges at a trial last year, but did admit to inapproproate conduct with staffers. An SNP spokesman said: "The SNP is focused on tackling covid and securing a strong, fair and green recovery for Scotland as an independent country in a post-pandemic referendum. "Only both votes SNP on the 6th May can put Scotland's future in Scotland's hands - not Boris Johnson's."
How about people flea war ridden nation where they are getting killed by weapons sold to their killers by the U.K. and rich execs make a fortune, whilst Johnson has spaffed 22 billion on a track and trace system, which at best can be described as a total waste of money, did I say 22 billion, latest figures indicate 37 billion. But hey those people in a dinghy are coming to ruin the nation. ****ing hell though the daily mail lot will lap up that meme though.
Oh whilst paying for his affair with the good old British tax payers money. What’s not to like about him.
That’s the bit that matters. If he wants to smash Arcuri’s back doors in while his wife is having chemo then it’s not a great look, though pretty typical of the bloke, but doesn’t necessarily have to impact his work. If he’s paying the old slag public money for the privilege it’s a bit more serious. Nothing will happen, obviously.
The refugee argument is unwinnable, Will. The fact that we take in far fewer than other European nations won't be recognised by those brainwashed by Farage and the right-wing media, and Patel's illegal and unworkable plans to deal with the issue will be supported by a large majority of the nation.
Yes you’re absolutely right, putting everything else aside what I can’t get my head round is how people can’t see whilst the U.K. is profiteering so much from the arms trade, why the U.K. shouldn’t be taking more responsibility... well ideally we’d stop selling these regimes arms for starters!!
Seriously?? Right do the refugees originate from France? No... Does France take in substantially more refugees than the U.K.? Yes. Does France profit anywhere near close to the U.K. by selling arms to the regimes, that threaten the lives of these people? No. Whilst the U.K. continues to be part of the problem by arming these ****s, which leads to people fleeing for their safety, the U.K. should be doing a lot more, and certainly substantially more than other nations that aren’t part of the problem.
if the uk should do more then they should do more for legal immigrants /asylum seekers not the ones in the backs of trucks or in dingys escaping war torn france how many other safe countries were travelled through to get to france no one knows who or what is entering via dover
Opinion The new Inquisition must never win There is more at stake in the case of Batley Grammar than the fate of one teacher BY Andrew Doyle . The Batley protestors need a lesson in free speech (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images) please log in to view this image Andrew Doyle is a comedian and creator of the Twitter persona Titania McGrath March 29, 2021 Picture the scene: an idyllic summer landscape populated by those much-loved icons of goodwill, the Care Bears. These instantly recognisable figures, fluffy and colourful and surrounded by butterflies and tiny floating hearts, are indulging in a rare bout of mischief. One is smashing up a laptop with a hobnailed club. One is dangling on a swing between two freshly hanged corpses. Another is idly reclining on a bed of skulls, while a pair are greeting each other by shaking the hands of two amputated arms. Nearby, one of their friends is having sex with a decapitated head. All are grinning in that cute little Care Bear way. The Care Bears Movie was one of the first films I ever saw at the cinema, so you can imagine how traumatic it is for me to contemplate my childhood heroes engaged in such wanton depravity. Still, the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo isn’t known for going easy on its targets, and if I’m offended by their Care Bears cartoon I can always choose not to subscribe. This particular image appeared in an issue last September, and was satirising the practitioners of what has become known as “cancel culture”. The censors of our time, the artist reminded us, are acting au nom du “bien”. People are harassed and threatened, livelihoods and reputations obliterated, and all by those who believe themselves to be allied with the angels. Their language is that of “inclusivity” and “compassion”, even though their ruthlessness and intolerance betray the insincerity of their stated goals — or, at the very least, the way in which self-righteousness can blind people to the evil they commit in the name of a noble cause. The furore at Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire is the most recent example of how the lexicon of “social justice” has been weaponised in the name of progress. A teacher who had shown a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed — either from Charlie Hebdo or the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten (reports differ) — has been suspended for causing offence, and has now gone into hiding. Protesters outside the school have stated that they will not disperse until he is sacked. Given that blasphemy laws no longer exist in the UK, these protestors have largely couched their complaints in terms of “safety and wellbeing”. On Friday, a man arrogantly claiming to speak on behalf of “the Muslim community” read out a statement in which the school authorities were accused of failing in their “duty of safeguarding”, and the teacher himself was charged with “threatening and provocative” behaviour. The Muslim Council of Britain has deployed similar tactics, suggesting that the teacher “created a hostile atmosphere”. More from this author The importance of obscenity By Andrew Doyle As much as I prefer to take people at their word, it seems unlikely to me that the protestors or the MCB seriously believe that the children’s safety has been compromised by a Religious Studies lesson about free speech. Certainly the pupils don’t appear to agree with those who are speaking on their behalf, which is why some of them have created an online petition to have their teacher reinstated. What’s striking, though, is that despite all their talk of “safeguarding”, the protestors seem to be oblivious to a far more dangerous trend: that as a result of the various Islamist terrorist attacks in France in recent years — from the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo offices in January 2015 to the beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty last October — the right to criticise and ridicule religion has been increasingly under threat. It isn’t simply the prospect of violent retaliation; it is the climate of intimidation that is fomented by the kind of protests we have seen in recent days. Cancel culture is sustained predominately by self-censorship, by those who see the consequences to others when they step out of line. After the events at Batley Grammar, how many teachers are likely to include the Charlie Hebdo cartoons in their lessons now? Yet there has never been a more pressing time to engage with these issues in the classroom. If I were a teacher of Religious Studies, I would find it difficult to justify ignoring the question of the perceived conflict between religious faith and free speech, or not to discuss the murders of Samuel Paty and the satirists of Charlie Hebdo. While there is nothing wrong with acknowledging the potential offence that depictions of the Prophet Mohammed might cause, it is not a sufficient reason to avoid the topic altogether. I am sure that many pupils are disturbed by the anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda cartoons that are routinely included in history textbooks, but they serve an important function in the learning process. We know very little about the context in which the images of Mohammed were shown at Batley Grammar, but it is implausible that the teacher’s motives were anything other than educational. More from this author When will the online Thought Police come for you? By Andrew Doyle Still, the protest itself is not all that surprising. As someone who attended a convent school as a child, I am all too aware that religious conservatives are often displeased at the contents of school curricula. When I became a teacher, there were often complaints from parents who disapproved of certain books or plays, either on grounds of religious belief or sheer prudishness. Angela Carter’s novel Wise Children was a particular bugbear for some parents, although at no point was the possibility of substituting texts or withdrawing pupils from class ever entertained. They had a right to be offended, but their offence was their own problem. I even taught briefly at a school run by an evangelical Christian who attempted to prohibit the teaching of novels that featured gay characters. It’s the reason I resigned from my post. Teachers cannot be in the business of tailoring their pedagogic practices in order to appease the most intolerant elements of society. Nor should we be indulging those who feel that their particular worldview should be imposed on society at large. That is why there is more at stake in the case of Batley Grammar than the fate of this one teacher. With the immense publicity this event has generated, the outcome — whatever it is — will no doubt set an important precedent. If the school continues to capitulate to the demands of protesters, it will have a chilling effect on teachers in other schools who might wish to explore tendentious subjects. But in the coming days, that won’t prevent the usual politicians, commentators and activists from emerging from their dens in Care-a-Lot, thirsting for the blood they can smell in the air. They will be saying things like “freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences”, and other mantras that act as surrogates for thought. They will assert that the teacher is “Islamophobic” and “hateful”, because they are invariably convinced of their own telepathic capabilities. They will accuse the teacher of “bullying” as they sidle up to theocrats calling for his ruination. Already the protestors have demanded that he face criminal prosecution for “stirring up hatred”, a favoured formulation of today’s “progressives”. Cancel culture is the Inquisition of the digital age; it is how blasphemers are subdued, whether religious or secular. We mustn’t let the Care Bears win.
Would you know how to apply for asylum? Sure it’s a piece of piss when your home has been blown to ****, by weapons sold and profited by the U.K. The U.K. does less than any other major European country... countries that don’t profit anywhere near as much as the U.K.
Liz Truss @trussliz please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Just signed UK-Thailand MOU establishing the UK's first JETCO in 10 years. This will: please log in to view this image Improve our trade relationship worth over £5bn please log in to view this image Help boost key UK exports in the future, including cars please log in to view this image Strengthen please log in to view this image please log in to view this image trade & investmenthttps://gov.uk/government/news/uk-and-thailand-commit-to-strengthening-trade-ties… please log in to view this image 1
please log in to view this image Politics For All @PoliticsForAlI please log in to view this image Spain has denied reports it will round up and deport Britons without visas Via @guardian
Yes well exactly!!! So no experience of needing to seek asylum, to be fair neither have I but I’m gotta think it isn’t a simple process, especially if you were fleeing your home that could quite possibly be under attack from weapons sold and profited by the U.K.
